Fraud victims kept on hold for over TWO hours

SCAM victims are being left on hold for hours as reports of fraud soar amid the pandemic, Money Mail can reveal.

In the worst cases, HSBC customers are being forced to wait for more than two hours to reach an anti-scam phone line.

When Money Mail called Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting service, our reporter had to wait almost half an hour.

Barclays last week revealed a 66 per cent increase in scams in the past six months. Victims are urged to report the crime to their bank immediately.

Our investigation earlier this month exposed HSBC as the worst bank with waits of up to two hours 14 minutes.

The five times Money Mail called HSBC, the shortest hold was almost an hour. TSB cut off a call after 43 minutes but the next day picked up in 17.

But Nationwide and Santander connected customers within three and four minutes respectively. The hold time for Royal Bank of Scotland was two to four minutes. NatWest answered one call in around a minute while another was not picked up for 11. Lloyds’ hold times ranged from one to 12 minutes.

However, Marian Walters, 81, had to wait 45 minutes to speak to Halifax. She had noticed two suspicious payments that totalled about £150 and were made to insurance firms.

When she eventually got through, Halifax refunded her. But two days later, two more payments were taken and she had to wait even longer for help.

The former accountant, who lives near Retford, Nottinghamshire, says: ‘Banks cannot keep using Covid as an excuse. It is really not good enough.’

Marian complained and Halifax apologised, offering her a goodwill gesture and signposting its over-70s phone line.

HSBC says it is receiving higher than normal call volumes but is training new scam team staff. TSB claims its team answers calls in six minutes.

Halifax says in recent weeks the average wait time has been under five minutes. Action Fraud says its hold time last month was about 11 minutes.

A spokesman says: ‘Our call handlers stay on the phone as long as necessary, dependent on the victim’s needs.’